Adjustable mounting means for wardrobes



Apnl 13, 1954 J. T. FAIRHURsT 2,674,767

ADJUSTABLE MOUNTING MEANS FOR WARDROBES Filed March 29, 1950 INVENToR fw/,v 7.' 5mn/(WST ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 13, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADJUSTABLE MOUNTING MEANS FOR WARDROBES deceased Application March 29, 1950, Serial No. 152,725

1 Claim.

rlhis invention relates to wardrobes particularly useful for public buildings, schools, omces and the like, and constitutes an improvementI of my United States Patent 1,911,225 issued May 30, 1933.

The wardrobe described in my prior patent comprises one or more pairs of doors that may be moved in unison for opening and closing the wardrobes, the doors being moved from a closed position in front of the` wardrobe and parallel to the rear wall thereof to an open position within the confines of the wardrobe and parallel to the side walls thereof. In the installation of groups of wardrobes of this character the doors when in the closed position are intended to provide a smooth uninterrupted wall completely enclosing the wardrobe and presenting the appearance of an ordinary wall of the building. It is important therefore that the doors be accurately alined one with the other to provide a smooth continuous wall when in closed position.

With the use of concrete or other similar material as a flooring material in public buildings, the problem of alining doors of the wardrobes has become exceedingly difficult as the bottom supports when securely fastened in position cannot be readily moved to remedy or correct any misalignment of the bottoms of the doors.

The present invention provides a new and improved fioor support for the pivotally mounted doors which support need only be approximately positioned when secured to the floor, means being provided on the support itself for accommodating any misalignment thereof and thus enabling accurate and precise alignment of the doors when in closed position.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent in the following description and accompanying drawings forming part of this application.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is perspective view of a number of wardrobes with the doors on three of the wardrobes in the open position;

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the Z--i of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the wardrobe taken along lines 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. a is a cross-sectional view of a iioor mount for supporting the wardrobe doors in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5 5 of Fig. a; and

6 is an exploded view of the floor mount illustrated in Fig. 4.

The wardrobe, of which this invention constitutes an improvement, is illustrated 'in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive and is provided with a pair of doors i0 with each door being mounted for rotation about a vertical rod I2. The vertical rods I2 are mounted for rotational movement on upper and lower pivotal mounts It and IS, the upper mount being fastened to the top I8 of the wardrobe which may bermade of wood or other similar material. The lower mount I6 is secured to the floor of the building preferably by suitable screws or bolts depending on the construction of the floor.

Each door is supported on its rod I2 by brackets 2! and 22 that are iixedly mounted to the rod I2 and are pivotally attached to the door by brackets Z4 and 2E.

As the doors i9 are moved from the closed position such as that shown in the wardrobe designated by the letter A in Fig. 1 to an open position such as the wardrobe designated by the letter B in Figl, the doors pivot relative to the brackets 20 and 22 and the brackets in turn rotate with the rod I2 about the longitudinal axis of that rod. The fully opened and fully closed position of the doors is clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.

When the doors of these wardrobes are in the closed position they present in effect a solid wall. The wardrobes, therefore, are particularly useful, for exampley in classrooms since a blackboard can be carried on the outer side of each Adoor so that when the doors are closed sufficient blackboard space is available for the classes and at the same time adequate places for the students clothing are also provided. It is important however that the doors be accurately alined when in the closed position. In other installations of course the vdoors may carry suitable panels so that when the wardrobes are closed the appearance of a normal or panelled wall is presented.

To present a uniform appearing wall it is necessary that all of the doors be accurately alined one with the other and considerable difficulty has been experienced in. alining the bottom oi the doors It, especially in instances where the wardrobes are installed in buildings having concrete floors. The alinement of the upper part of the door of this wardrobe is accomplished at the factory as the upper pivots I4 for the rods I2 can be accurately positioned on the upper walls I8 in the fabrication of the wardrobe. When the wardrobe is installed in a particular location, however, the bottom pivot I6 may be fastened for instance to a concrete oor requiring the drilling of holes in the concrete floor and the insertion of lead inserts in the holes to receive the mounting screws and hold the pivot i6 firmly' in place. Accurate location of the pivot l is difficult because it is most easily installed before the doors are erected and in the case of concrete floors cannot be easily moved. The invention herein concerns an adjustable lower pivot mounting for the rod I2 to compensate for inaccuracies in location of the pivot and to enable the accurate and precise adjustment of the lower portion of the doors I after the doors are in position in the wardrobe. This pivot mounting is shown in Figs. 4, and 6.

This mounting comprisesa flanged base part 3G having three openings 32 spaced at approximately 120 intervals for securing the mounting in place on the door of the building in which the wardrobe is to be installed. In the upper neck-like portion 34 of the base 30 is a vertical passage 35 having an elongated or ovular transverse section and terminating at the bottom in a tapered or conical mouth 38.

Transversely of the neck-like portion 34 is a slot 40 for slidably receiving a rectangular block or nut 42. The nut 42 when in position in the slot 40 threadably receives a shaft 44 which extends through the opening 36 of the base. With the shaft 44 engaging the nut 42 considerable transverse movement of the shaft relative to the base is provided for by reason of the elongated slot 36. A lock nut 46 is threaded on to the shaft 44 and is used to lock the shaft in position in the base when the proper transverse adjustment thereof has been obtained.`

The bottom part of the rod I2 is illustrated in Figures 4 and 6 showing one of the transverse bracket members 22 which is fastened to the rod l2 on one end and supports the bottom of a door E0 at the other end. Within the rod l2 is a pivoted member 48 having a cone-shaped end part 50 adapted to cooperate with a conical recess 52 in the upper end of the shaft 44. The rod I2 extends downwardly beyond the conical pivot part 50 to partially overlap the shaft 44 and prevent any possibility of the pivot 50 from being forcibly urged out of the recess 52. A hole 54 is provided in the shaft 44 for the insertion of a transverse member to rotate the shaft 44 when the door is being adjusted to correct the vertical positioning of the door.

When this pivot assembly is employed as the bottom pivot i6 for the doors, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the long axes of the transverse section of the passage 35 is placed in a position perpendicular to the rear wall I8 of the wardl.

When the wardrobe is completely assem- .4 vertical position of the door. The shaft 44 is then moved toward or away from the rear wall I8 to effect the alinement of the door I0 with each of the other doors in the closed position so that al1 of the doors form in effect a single plane surface. Upon completion of adjustment the lock nut 4B is then tightened against the upper surface of the base 30.

In order to facilitate the adjustment of the pivot assembly and hold the block or nut 42 in place while the nut 46 is tightened, a set screw 42 is threaded through the neck of the base portion 30 and bears against one side of the block 42 to hold the block in position after the proper adjustment is made and while the lock nut 46 is tightened to permanently fix the adjustment.

With this improved base it is apparent that in the installation of wardrobes on concrete floors the bases i6 need only be approximately positioned and fastened securely to the floor, all further adjustments of the rod i2 relative to the base being accomplished by means on the base itself.

I claim:

In a wardrobe of the type having a pair of doors each supported by a vertical rod spaced from one side of the door and a pair of vertically spaced arms each fastened at one end to a rod and at the other end to a door, adjustable means for pivotally supporting each rod for rotary movement comprising a base for each rod having a vertical passage therein of elliptical transverse section for a portion of its length, said base being formed with a horizontal slot intersecting said portion of the passage, a rectangular member horizontally slidable in said slot, a shaft extending into said passage and References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,911,225 Fairhurst May 30, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 404,065 France Oct. 9, 1909 700,353 Germany Dec. 18, 194.0 

